"MARSHA WALKER", Mother with two kids fighting in Iraq, told to "Fuck Off" by "Blue Star" parents group for objecting to war. As reported by RAW STORY.Rescheduled for another time, a surprise for BRAD BLOG readers instead!

Join the Open Thread during the show here at BRAD BLOG, listen up at www.BradShow.com and call in with your Questions at 323-650-1286 on Saturday Night 7p-11p ET (4p-8p PT)!

We still must rely on your support to help keep us on the air! As well as donating, kewl gear (like the shirt I'm wearing at left) is available from The BRAD STORE! Every bit helps, so buy a book, a shirt, a mug, a bumper sticker and help us all continue to Be The Media!

It would be nice to get some comments, if any of the guests have personal information, about the reasons Roberts has been nominated for the Supreme Court.

I think it is a step towards consolidation of power. Roberts agreed to reverse a lower court, and go against the implications of a decision Justice O'Connor had written.

It raises questions when the healthy member of the court, who wrote an anti-torture opinion, retires out of the blue, but one who has to be wheel-chaired to the court even when able to show up does not.

I keep wondering - in a scenario where the truth comes to light and a large majority of people finally are educated to the fact that 2000 and 2004 elections were manipulated and stolen, we have a brand new situation in this country. What to do about these judges who have been put in place by the squatter? It would be completely unreasonable, in my opinion, for us to be stuck with them for decades.

#4
Kira, I've been thinking along those lines also:
"If" (for those STILL not yet convinced) the crime--of our electoral process having been manipulated & our vote rendered meaningless by fraud--is proven, would that not render illegitimate every official action taken by this illegitimate administration?

We cannot undo all their arrogance & all their mistakes--and most tragic, we cannot restore life & limb to all those killed & injured by their bombs & their policies--but I would hope that, following impeachment, indictment & conviction (hey, might as well aim high since I'm dreamin'), would there not be alot that COULD be undone? e.g., court & other appointments, medals & promotions awarded & the like??
Go ahead, somebody shoot down my fantasies, I can take it!

Then I get into the office and read about a California National Guard unit that supposedly spent last Mother's Day keeping a spy-eye on protesters at the state Capitol — Raging Grannies, CodePink and a group whose members had relatives killed in Iraq. The San Jose Mercury News quoted an e-mail exchange between Guard officers three days before the protest:

"Sir, Information you wanted on Sunday's demonstration at the Capitol."

"Thanks. Forwarding same to our Intell. folks who continue to monitor."

Zoe Lofgren, the Democratic member of the House from San Jose and ranking member on an intelligence and information-sharing subcommittee, wants to know more. Joe Dunn, the Democratic state senator from Santa Ana, wants documents, files and hearings. The national National Guard is sending someone from D.C. to look into this.

"I want a fair and reasonable inquiry into what they're doing," Lofgren said, whether it's "spying on the mothers of dead soldiers and Raging Grannies," or as the Guard told her, there's a "misunderstanding."
......**more**..........

July 26, 2005 · Police cited journalists from four media organizations for criminal trespassing while they covered a protest that involved a group of older women who attempted to enlist in the Army at a recruiting center in Tucson July 13. Five of the self-dubbed "Raging Grannies," who are associated with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, also were cited.

Thanks, Kira.
I have a long-running grudge (against myself, really!) for not beating Weird Al to the punch & thinking of doing what he does!
I coulda been Weird Joan!! (ok, some, I'm sure, think I already am, in my own modest, completely non-lucrative way). I missed the boat there, alas, on fame & fortune *sigh*

Masters of War
Bob Dylan

Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
While the death count gets higher
Then you hide in your mansion
While the young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

That song is from, what, the 60's? How terribly sad that's it's so appropriate today. How far we had come! And how far the "rough beast" has dragged us back.

Poem lyrics of The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at laSt,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Must be discouraging, huh? You try to get your little congregation to expand their horizons (and donations) and they just ramble on about nonsense. Every uncencored blog eventually gets taken over by a couple of blabbermouths like Kira & Co.

They apparently have no other interests, so like the CB radio blabbermouths of yore, they latch on to some poor schmuck's blog (who is just trying to gather a few donations) and pretty soon, all average- IQ participants are driven off by the sheer volume of silly statements, limericks, poems, and just plain nonsense.

The smarter folks wander over to Vox's blog, or one of the upper-level thinking person's blogs, where some level of coherent dialogue occurs.

In a way, Brad, your problem is the same as the problem of the Democrats in general. They want to kick out (or at least minimize the blather from) the lower IQ segments, but to do so would cut out about 90% of all participants, and then where would you be? Dead in the water, that's where.

So, you continue to spin your leftist line of "thinking", leading your few poorly informed and poorly educated followers on a very mediocre ride. Yes, you keep telling them that "we must unite" to change the electoral process - in hopes that they will send in a few dollars each. Doesn't add up to much, does it?

One day, you will say "I cannot read through another Kira posts" and simply pull this lame blog off the net. Until then, slouch on, Brad. At least you can gain some comfort that even worse blogs exist.

Karla WOW I laughed my ass off when I read that EXCELLENT commentary. Brad is like a small time pastor with just a handful in his flock, trying to tell them what they wish to hear, while gently and steadily prodding them for an increase in donations. Sadly, no new recruits. Any who would stop by for a visit would quickly be turned off by the very bullshit you mention. I can get that crap on Montel.

Thanks for the heads-up on Theodore Beale (Vox.) [Definitely an "upper-level blog" ... ahem.] I’d never heard of him before but truly appreciate knowing where these TB Wannabees are coming from. I’m intrigued by this essay he wrote which caused a bit of a stir in the blogosphere and posted at The Dark Window Blogspot:

Why women shouldn't vote
An ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 70% of men favored smaller government, but only 48% of women believed the same way. So men are far more likely to view big government as part of the problem, not the solution.

It's pretty clear to me that one of the most destructive forces in our society has been women's suffrage. Women consistently and reliably turn towards government as a solution for perceived problems, which creates more intractable problems, which then is used to justify more government intervention. This process is unlikely to stop until the entire edifice collapses of its own weight.

It's too bad that the concept of the states as laboratories of democracy has been abandoned, because I'd love to see the difference between two neighboring states, one of which permitted women to vote and the other that did not. It would be particularly interesting to see in which state women would prefer to live. I suspect the answer might surprise a lot of people.

The fact that the Kerry campaign would run these canards reveals an unsettling truth - that in order to win the female vote, Kerry believes that he needs to continually nurture women's sense of grievance and victimization.

He has no other choice. Feminist women believe that they exist for no other reason than to be aggrieved. "I am a victim, therefore I am" could serve as the motto for the entire movement. I'm not advocating some sort of sharia here - as far as I'm concerned, women can work wherever and wear whatever they want. But allowing them a voice in government and politics is disastrous, if not suicidal, and has led directly to the loss of more American lives in three decades than in every war since the Revolution.

Someone had to say it. I just did.

###

World O'Crap gives even more insight into WorldNetDaily columnist Vox Day.

[snip] …”While we knew that he was, in real life, Christian sci-fi novelist Theodore Beale, we didn't know that his father was millionaire Robert Beale, a board member and stockholder in WorldNetDaily.com. I had always wondered how Vox got the WorldNet gig (not that he isn't a provocative and and often times intelligent columnist in his own way, but he just didn't seem to be a fit for WorldNet). So, this would at least explain how his column came to the board's attention.

Anyway, Bartholomew has information on Vox's religious influences and how his non-main stream beliefs are relected in his work --- you will probably want to check it out.

Our own contribution to explaining the mystery of Vox Day is The Corrupt Minnesota Department of Revenue, the webpage which Vox set up to explain the Beale family's side of the long-running tax dispute Beale senior has been having with the state of Minnesota. Vox includes this comment on a page about Robert Beale's belief that God called him to fight the goverment (but not in tax court, because that's how they try to get you in their clutches):

There will also surely be many who will consider him little more than a religious nut with money, but again, that is of little concern to us. After all, this country was founded and its Constitution was written by a group of wealthy, well-armed aristocrats who also happened to be devout Christians and who believed that they had been put in the right place at the right time for an appointed purpose.

Yeah, a having a religious nut with money for a father does explain a lot about Vox. …

… we leave you with these words from Vox's blog:

It's a simple question, actually. Is the nation better off or worse off as a result of women's suffrage? If so, how? It's a tough case to make, unless you want to argue that divorce, illegitimacy, homosexuality and falling real wages are the historical signs of a healthy society.” [snip]

As part of a series of posts profiling the strange concept of “Christian libertarianism”, which seems more often than not to mean “Christian theocracy”, I recently chanced upon Christian libertarian and WorldNetDaily contributor Vox Day (Theodore Beale), who believes that women should be denied the vote. Since I, among others, appeared critical of his position, he issued a challenge to anyone to refute his idea. I wrote a few points, to which Vox has now responded on his blog. This is my response to that.

Normal "religion in the news" blog service will be resumed after this, exceptionally lengthy, entry:

Well, Vox Day has wielded his flaming sword in my direction. I have been mildy singed in a couple of places, but, in my opinion at least, his weapon quickly fizzles out. Readers can judge for themselves.

He begins with the following headline:

I'm not gay, I'm English

**MORE**

It’s all interesting to read … and mull over. There certainly is a warp in the weave.

North Oaks businessman Robert Beale, 62, was indicted Thursday for allegedly cheating on his taxes, the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis said. Beale, the founder and chief executive of Maple Grove-based Comtrol Corp., allegedly concealed $5.6 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service. The company's former president, Lee Stagni, 52, also was charged with helping Beale. Each man faces five counts of aiding and abetting tax evasion and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. They face up to five years in prison on each charge if convicted. Beale was arrested Wednesday and released, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Neither man could be reached for comment